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Multiplication des Poissons

James Ensor

European Art

In this etching the avant-garde painter and printmaker James Ensor reworked a traditional biblical subject—Christ feeding a large crowd by miraculously multiplying loaves and fish. He was inspired by Rembrandt’s religious etchings, but the crowd of leering faces owes more to the work of eighteenth-century printmakers he admired, including William Hogarth and Francisco Goya.

Feeling persecuted by harsh critics and an unresponsive public, Ensor came to identify with the figure of Christ, whom he depicted regularly in his work between 1880 and 1900.
MEDIUM Etching on wove paper
DATES 1891
DIMENSIONS Image: 6 3/4 × 9 1/16 in. (17.1 × 23 cm) sheet: 9 13/16 × 12 1/2 in. (24.9 × 31.8 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed, "James Ensor, 1891" lower right margin in pencil
COLLECTIONS European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 49.103
CREDIT LINE Museum Surplus Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION James Ensor (Belgian, 1860-1949). Multiplication des Poissons, 1891. Etching on wove paper, Image: 6 3/4 × 9 1/16 in. (17.1 × 23 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Surplus Fund, 49.103. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.103_bw.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 49.103_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT © artist or artist's estate
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James Ensor (Belgian, 1860-1949). <em>Multiplication des Poissons</em>, 1891. Etching on wove paper, Image: 6 3/4 × 9 1/16 in. (17.1 × 23 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Surplus Fund, 49.103. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.103_bw.jpg)